Iceland in January: what tours still run

Most things run in January. It is the middle of the ice cave and snowmobile season, the nights are long enough for a lights hunt every evening, and the whale boats from Reykjavík and Akureyri keep going. What you give up is daylight and hiking. On 1 January Reykjavík gets about four and a half hours of light, and the weather decides more of your plans than the timetable does.

What the calendars show

We hold the booking calendars for every tour we sell, so we counted. On 15 January about 1,260 of our tours show a departure. That is a little under mid-November, at about 1,320, and well under mid-October, at about 1,425. Operators are still opening dates this far out, so the January number may grow a little.

New Year’s Day is the exception. About 1,000 tours show a date on 1 January, and a lot of those start late. Our Christmas and New Year guide covers that week.

The mix is the interesting part. Between mid-October and mid-January, tours with hiking in them drop from about 109 to 76, and whale tours from 71 to 52. Ice cave tours go up, from 68 to 74, and snowmobile tours from 28 to 36. Northern lights tours stay level at about 141.

Ice caves and snowmobiles

January is a good month for both. The ice caves under Vatnajökull, near Jökulsárlón, are usually at their most stable after the first proper cold. Blue Iceland’s Blue Ice Cave Adventure is from €161 and shows every day in January, at 09:30 and 14:00. It is a five-hour drive from Reykjavík, so it only works if you are sleeping in the southeast. A thaw can still close a cave at short notice.

Closer to Reykjavík, Mountaineers of Iceland’s Ice Cave and Snowmobile Tour from Gullfoss is from €233 and runs on most January days from 10:00. It is four hours from the Gullfoss car park, so it fits a Golden Circle day if you are driving. The minimum age is six. Langjökull is high and exposed, and snowmobile days are the first to go when the wind picks up.

Husky sledding in the north

Snow Dogs’ Siberian Husky Dog Sledding near Laugar, between Akureyri and Mývatn, is from €292 for about two hours and shows dates on 22 of January’s 31 days. The minimum age is four. By January there is usually snow to run on, which is not always true in November. Our dog sledding guide has the detail.

Whales

The big boats keep going. Elding’s Reykjavík Classic Whale Watching is from €106 and shows every day in January, three hours from the Old Harbour. In the north, the Akureyri Classic Whale Watching is also from €106 and runs daily. Sightings are good in winter but never certain, the sea is rougher and it is properly cold on deck. North Sailing’s original Húsavík tour shows no January dates at all, so do not plan a winter trip round Húsavík’s whales. Our winter whale watching guide goes further.

Northern lights

The nights are long, so you can hunt the lights on any clear evening. The Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavík is from €73, leaving at 20:30, 21:30 or 22:30, with a free retry if you see nothing. Whether you see anything depends on the cloud and the sun, and January is often cloudy. Book it for your first night with a decent forecast, so the retry has room.

Daylight, roads and weather

Reykjavík has about four and a half hours of daylight on 1 January. By the 31st it is about seven, and it grows by several minutes a day through the month. Sunrise is after eleven at the start of January. The Golden Circle fits comfortably in that light. A South Coast day as far as Vík works but you drive part of it in the dark. Jökulsárlón and back in a day is too much.

January storms are common. Roads in the north and east close for snow, and flights to Akureyri get delayed. Operators cancel when it is unsafe, and you get a refund or a new date. Leave a spare day, and read our winter driving guide before you hire a car.

Our honest take

Come in the second half of January if you can. You miss New Year, you get an extra hour or two of light, and the ice caves and snowmobiles are running at full strength.

Book one glacier day: the snowmobile and ice cave from Gullfoss if you are staying near Reykjavík, the Jökulsárlón caves if you are going southeast. Add a lights tour on the first clear night. Skip the long hikes and don’t chase whales in Húsavík. And leave room in the plan, because in January the weather gets the last word.